Strange Fruit By Billie Holliday

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the Poplar trees

Pastoral Scene

Of the gallant South

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh

And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here’s a fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, For a tree to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Lynching murder for supposed crime: to seize somebody believed to have committed a crime and put him or her to death immediately and without trial, usually by hanging MSN Encarta Dictionary

On a piece of paper write “Strange Fruit by Billie Holliday.” Then, write your initial reaction to the song and slides. Try to include examples or comments from the actual song and slides.

Overview Music can help people express a range of feelings and topics. Many early African-American songs, such as "The Drinking Gourd," were used to pass secret messages during the period of slavery. As Reconstruction passed into the Jim Crow Era, African- American music such as jazz and blues evolved. This music explored the feelings of frustration, poverty, and depression that many African-American communities experienced. This music also began advocating for social change.

Songs that promoted social activism were rare before the mid 1960s. One of the earliest of these songs, "Strange Fruit," was sung by the blues singer, Billie Holiday--she first sang it in a New York club in Though it was popular, Holiday's recording company, Columbia Records, refused to produce the song due to its controversial nature. A small record company picked it up, and it has now been commonly accepted as Holiday's signature song.

Pick two of these questions to write and answer. Why were blacks lynched? What reasons would people give to "justify" doing it? What responses could blacks have to lynching? What response did Billie Holiday choose? Why? What risks was she taking by singing this song? Why? What kind of message did the song have? Explain. Do you think it was effective? Explain. This overview and these questions were taken from the website: